Course Resources Archive

This module will appeal to students with an interest in exploring the diversity and vibrancy of modern and contemporary American literature. We will be studying a range of engaging American texts, from the major genres of fiction, poetry, prose, and drama,

The module explores the diversity of American literature emerging from 1900 to the present day.  The module provides students with an opportunity to engage with the breadth and range of American writings from early 20th century Naturalism through to recent writings about 9/11 and its aftermath. Students who have taken the Level 5 module on American writing, which has a nineteenth-century focus, will be able to extend their interest and understanding of an American literary history and cultural production.  In examining American writing from the turn of the century, the modernist period and the Beat generation, through to multicultural literature and postmodernism, the module attends to the textual (and sometimes visual) representation of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and imperialism.  This involves exploring fiction, poetry, the short story, prose and drama, by writers such as London, Cather, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Kerouac, Morrison, Tan, Danticat, Paretsky, deLillo.

A student passing this module should be able to:

1.Demonstrate showing in-depth knowledge and understanding of modern and contemporary American literature, and of major post-1900 American literary developments, and their social and cultural contexts.

2.Show an advanced knowledge of American fiction, poetry, drama, and prose from the period, and an appreciation of its literary and cultural traditions and innovations.

3.Employ advanced comparative and analytical skills in both oral and written expression, show a capacity to analyse complex forms of literary language and rhetoric, and evaluate these appropriately and critically.

4.Effectively communicate an advanced understanding of American literature, and express their ideas effectively and with fluency and flair.

5.Plan and organise their own learning experience, and

6.implement research, and use appropriate scholarly

7.resources, including information technology.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.